No 37 August COMCOL NEWSLETTER 2021 International Committee for Collecting Museum professionals from different parts of the world gathered online to explore different possibilities of collecting methods, Letter from the Chair practice and criteria, constructing a regional communication platform for different museums/institutions in Taiwan and the Danielle Kuijten Mandarin-speaking community Dear members, Photo courtesy Yu-Yang Chang (Grace) Contents We are pleased to present our summer 2021 newsletter to you. Many thanks to our contributors (known and Letter from the Chair Danielle Kuijten 1 new ones) for sharing their insights and experiences with us, so that we can share them with all of you. Report on COMCOL Germany’s Series “Making Museums Matter” Alina Gromova 2 Although we hoped that by now the pandemic would When “Others” Become “One of Us” :Collaborative New have loosened its grip on society, unfortunately we have Partnership, Museum Participation and Practice to acknowledge that it has not. Where some countries Chen Hsiao - Chai 4 are slowly starting to breathe a little again as they are Introduction – Danielle Kuijten, President, ICOM COMCOL opening up, we see other places where people are Danielle Kuijten 17 struggling to give care and are trying to constrain the Collecting with Care – Ethics in Museum Work pandemic with rigorous lockdowns. Our thoughts and Report on Taiwan Webinar, June 22, 2021 hearts go to these places and people that are fighting at Yu-Yang Chang (Grace) 17 the moment to be safe. A Rocking Chair Decorator: History of the Manufacture and Use of the Finnish Rocking Chair Cover As a result of the pandemic ICOM offered last year Suvi Kettula 19 additional funding for solidarity projects. COMCOL 'PLANS FOR THE FUTURE: ICH Understood' 22 applied together with IC Ethics and a superdiverse international network and were awarded funds for Editorial 23 1 COMCOLnewsletter / No 37 / August 2021 2 their project Collecting with Care: ethics in museum work. This research project aims to develop an inter- Report on COMCOL national dialogue regarding ethical contemporary collecting/documenting during the pandemic (and other concurring crises). During this year we organize Germany’s Series amongst other activities and together with partners roundtable discussions. In this newsletter you can read “Making Museums a short report on the first roundtable that was held last month in Taiwan. Matter” As part of the research we also created an online survey. We would like to invite you to share your experiences Alina Gromova by filling it out. In the beginning of 2021, COMCOL founded a work- ing group for the German-speaking museum world. COMCOL Germany is the second local group within COMCOL, after COMCOL Brazil. COMCOL Ger- many calls for discussions and exchange around col- lecting in the broadest sense and addresses topics that https://comcol.mini.icom.museum/solidarity-project/ arise from the confrontation of museums and museum survey/ experts in Germany with the practice, theory and eth- ics of collecting. This working group aims to promote Furthermore you can read in this issue about collections reflection on the development of collections in the research and engagement in Finland, Taiwan, and German-speaking museum landscape and to support robust discussion in the new COMCOL Germany the transfer of relevant international approaches. It is working group. a platform for networking, exchange and the promo- In the meantime we are preparing for our annual conference that will take place 21-25 September. We are honoured to join forces with the amazing Instituto Ricardo Brennand in Recife, ICOM Brasil and the University Federal of Pernambuco. Together we will look into the future of collecting and how collections can be an inspiration for imagined futures under the topic, Reimagine Collecting: How Collecting Can Inspire The Future. Many reacted to the call for papers and we are excited with how the program is coming together. As the situation worldwide is still scattered with many insecurities we will offer the program in a hybrid form; both on location in Recife as well as online. Keep a close eye on our website and Facebook for further information. For now we hope you will enjoy reading our Newsletter and look forward to hearing or seeing you at any of the online activities. A classroom for error – Nicolás Paris (1977) Danielle Kuijten Photo Pedro Ribeiro Simões, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr President ICOM COMCOL Co-curator Imagine IC [email protected] COMCOLnewsletter / No 37 / August 2021 3 tion of innovative ideas and reflective museum work. The next sessions through July were dedicated to the In April 2021 COMCOL Germany, together with four uses, misuses and alternatives of the term “Communi- cooperation partners, started a new series of online dis- ty” in international and German museum landscapes, cussion and lectures with the title “Making Museums as well as to the New Museology in German-speak- Matter. Rethinking Museum Work”. Inspired by the ing Museum Practice and the question, what does it debates about the new museum definition of ICOM, mean to think about curating and mediating together this series seeks to rethink museum work in German- in practice? The events were accompanied by a series speaking countries. The series deals with such ques- of podcasts which followed after several sessions and tions as: Which international museum theories, prac- make the discussions available to the broader public, tices and ethics could be introduced to help rethink thus contributing to the sustainability of the series. museum work? How might they be implemented? What changes to existing ideas about museums’ roles, social relevance and responsibility would they bring? http://comcol.mini.icom.museum/comcol-germany/ series-of-online-discussions-making-museums- The series “Making Museums Matter. Rethinking Mu- matter/ seum Work” is a joint project of COMCOL, the Chair of Museology at the University of Würzburg (Germany), the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums Alina Gromova and Heritage (CARMAH) at the Humboldt-Universi- ty of Berlin (Germany), the Chair of Empirical Cul- Research Associate tural Studies at the University of Tübingen (Germa- [email protected] ny) and the Universalmuseum Joanneum (Austria). The partners acknowledge that in times when our societies and therefore our museums are facing the threats of anti-democratic movements, climate cata- strophe and the pandemic, it is more vital than ever that we seek to understand the core practical, theoreti- cal and ethical work of and about museums. To add- ress the above questions, the series brings together international guests to discuss new perspectives and concepts as well as the opportunities and challenges of their translation and implementation into the Ger- man-speaking context. The series also looks at inspi- rational museum projects, which themselves indicate new directions in museum theory and practice. The series of online discussions started on 13 April with the event “Making Museums Matter: On the Socio-Political Relevance of Museums”. Three excel- lent speakers, Daniela Bystron, Léontine Meijer-van Mensch and Hortensia Völckers talked about the growing awareness amongst museums of their social relevance, which is accompanied by the willingness to actively involve diverse groups in museum work, and to face up to their own socio-political relevance and responsibility. The main question of the discussion was, to what extent is this willingness actually present in German-speaking countries? Is it a lived reality or merely wishful thinking? And how does this new self- image affect museum work? COMCOLnewsletter / No 37 / August 2021 4 their native country’s lifestyles and cultural elements. When “Others” In this paper, the author will explore three South East Asian cultural performances and exhibitions which Become “One of Us” : she curated for Taiwan’s National Museum of History. These are: “Treasures of Southeast Asia: Folk Artifacts of the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia”, Collaborative New “Welcome to the Museum, New Residents!”, and “Old Collection, New Connection: A Joint Program of Partnership, Museum NMH and NER”. The author will examine how these cultural events created opportunities for participants Participation and to view “others” as “one of us.” She will also explore how museums and “new residents” can engage in collaboration, putting forward a feasible strategy Practice that focuses on: “from objects to people,” “from attendance to participation,” and “from assistance to collaboration.” Chen-hsiao Chai Keywords: museum and migration, “new resident” Abstract (new immigrant), cultural performance and representation, museum participation and practice, The representation of different cultures and re- the others/ we group contextualization of material cultures in museum exhibitions has long been central to anthropologists’ I. Foreword: Museum Visualization of “Otherness” museum studies. In this paper, the author will present and Representation of “One of Us” three case studies relating to cultural performances by “new immigrants” from Southeast Asia to Taiwan, Exhibitions serve as the primary channel for all of which she has curated previously, as a way of museums to demonstrate their institutional identity. exploring how museums can serve as venues for The museum defines its audience’s viewing experience representation of foreign cultures and the pondering by means of the systematic organization and display of possibilities